The system we live under only works because people believe in it and more or less voluntarily play by the rules.
Feel free to undermine state legitimacy but know that this will result in more entities (and it will be the more powerful ones first, BigCo, city governments, etc) thumbing their nose at the state and engaging in short sighted behavior.
If CA isn't gonna honor it's promises then anyone who deals with CA has less incentive to enter into agreements with the state or honor existing ones. In that future if CA grants someone permission to take X of Y resource they might just take 5X on the basis that CA won't honor their end so why should they.
Any lasting solution needs to be constructed on a solid legal foundation.
Right back atcha.
> undermine state legitimacy
You know what would undermine state legitimacy? Lobbying some old verbiage into an excuse to make city-dwellers baghold for Big Agriculture.
> incentive
Farmers need incentive to not grow crops in a desert.
> Any lasting solution needs to be constructed on a solid legal foundation.
Yes. Not only should we strike down this absurd "promise," we should put in place a mechanism to make sure nonphysical open-ended promises don't ever get made again.